The theologian Josef Pieper says that one of the most common errors afflicting Christians is to treat God as though he were “a something” rather than “a Someone”. The more I reflect on my own experience, the more I see the truth in it. And it follows that the more one treats God as a something, the greater the temptation to downplay his presence and action in the sacraments he instituted, which become simply expressions of cultic identity.
So it was with a mixture of disbelief and pity that I saw reports of a theology professor at Villanova University suggesting we ordain robots to the priesthood. Artificial Intelligence, says Sister Illia Delio, challenges Catholicism “to move forward to a post-human priesthood”.
